The Robot wars
by maninblack5
Summary: <html><head></head>After SHIELD's fall, Foxy finds himself in the most absurd situation he could possibly imagine. Facing off against an army of robots with only nine idiots to help him...This is a sequel to my last story Agents of SHIELD: incident 48547.</html>
1. Prologue: the Calm

Prologue: The Calm

Foxy looked around him, and regarded his teammates. They may be idiots, but at least they weren't cowardly idiots. Their determination to win this fight was impressive, even though there was no hope. Ten people could NOT defeat a robot army, especially not this group of people. Yet, they were determined to try. They even claimed to have done it before. Foxy sighed, and tried to remember how he got into this situation in the first place….


	2. Chapter 1: Spies like us

Chapter 1: Spies like us

Foxy surveyed the abandoned SHIELD bunker. It wasn't much, but at least he wouldn't be in the rain. SHIELD had been dissolved after it was discovered that it was many of the SHIELD agents were actually working for Hydra. Now, Foxy found himself out of a job, with no idea what he would do next. He entered the bunker and sat down in the corner of the entrance room. That was when he heard something, it sounded like static, but there were no radios on. He quickly stood up as a man entered the room. He was wearing a Red dress suit and balaclava and was smoking a cigar, there was a strange looking watch on his left arm.

"Well, this is sad sight."

The man spoke with a French accent.

"If you were a human, I would say that some tragedy had befallen you. But I can never tell with robots."

"Who are ye? And what do ye want?"

"It is not what I want, monsieur. My employer wishes your services. She knows about your work with SHIELD, and is most impressed by it."

"How does she know? Who is she?"

"If you wish to know more, be at this location at midnight tomorrow."

He handed him a scrap of paper with coordinates on it.

"Now, I must bid you adieu."

The man touched his watch and vanished into thin air.

Foxy stared at the place where the man had been standing in disbelief. SHIELD had only been able to cloak vehicles, never a human. What kind of technology did these people have? He resolved to be at those coordinates and find out.

Meanwhile, outside the facility. The man whom Foxy had been speaking with uncloaked as his phone began to ring.

"Hello?"

"Spy, how did it go?"

"It went very well, Ms. Pauling. I suspect that he shall be at the rendezvous point at the appointed time."

"Good job, Spy. Just don't mess this up, okay?"

"I still do not see why this is necessary. We do not need him to…."

"This is different, the Administrator says she'll explain once you have him."

"Fine. Is Heavy is waiting for me at the rendezvous point? I will need him to move that robot."

"He just called, he's in position."

"Good. By the way, is this robot replacing scout, by any chance?"

"No."

"Too bad. Is he replacing me?"

"Again, no. No one is getting replaced."

"Good. I shall deliver him as soon as possible. Just make sure I get my bonus."

With that, Spy hung up.

Foxy entered the clearing in the woods. This was a strange place for a rendezvous. The again, he suspected that he was dealing with strange people. He was surprised to see Coulson walk out of the shadows into the clearing.

"Coulson! It's good to see that ye'r still okay."

"I'm doing fine. I sent for you because we have a problem. Hydra has set up a base in this forest, they are working on a sonic weapon that could possibly wipe out humanity. We need to stop them."

Before Coulson could say anything more, there was a sound coming from behind a tree. Foxy turned to see a huge, bulky man getting up off the ground.

"Who are…."

Before Foxy could finish his sentence, he felt something being attaching to his back. The next thing he felt was his power being drained. And then he didn't feel anything more.

The image of Coulson shimmered and faded to reveal the man known only as "Spy".

"Heavy, you oaf! I told you to be quiet!"

"There was spider on my leg, so I smacked it. I just hit myself little too hard. Spider is dead now though."

"Just move this lump of metal into the truck. That IS all you're here for anyway."

Foxy was moved into the truck and sealed inside a metal crate.

"Robot is not getting out of that anytime soon."

"I hope not, or we're both dead men. Now, drive."

Heavy drove the truck out of the forest and towards the docks, where a boat was waiting for them. A man wearing a military helmet and holding a rocket launcher was standing at the boarding plank.

"Hello guys! I killed everyone and stole this ship!"

"Ugh, I told you to be discreet about it! This is why I wish that we had a cloning machine."

"Why? So we can clone bread?"

"No, you idiot, so I can clone myself. And thereby avoid having to work with you imbeciles! Heavy, load the crate onto the ship and dump the bodies overboard."

"Heavy think little coward man is getting bossy, but Heavy do this anyway."

"Using a cloaking device does not make one a coward."

"Heavy could care less about tiny baby watch."

"Just move the crate, please. Soldier, please prepare to launch the ship."

"What's in this crate anyway? More guns!?"

"You do not need to know at this time. Just DO NOT open it."

"Okay, open the crate."

"No, do NOT open the crate."

"Don't not open the crate."

Spy groaned and boarded the ship.

"Heavy, make sure that Soldier does not open the crate."

"Got it."

Heavy went below decks to guard the crate, while Spy steered the ship. As he did so, his phone rang. He ensured that the ship was going the right way, and then answered the call.

"Miss Pauling, what can I do for you?"

"Spy, did you get the robot?"

"Of course I have the robot. He is in a metal crate which has been padlocked several times over. Heavy is ensuring that Soldier does not open it."

"Good job. Bring the robot to Mannworks."

"Understood. We are on our way."

"Good luck, Spy, Pauling out."

Meanwhile, in the ship's cargo hold, Foxy had woken up. Unfortunately he couldn't extricate himself from the crate. Whatever these people had used on him had drained most of his power, even now he barely had enough to keep himself awake. He heard two voices outside the box, one sounded Russian and the other was clearly American. Of course, it was hard to hear over the sounds of punching so he wasn't sure.

"You can't stop me from opening this box! Even if you break my spine!"

The two men were fighting for some reason. Maybe one was trying to get him out.

"Owwwwwww! My Spine!"

It wasn't going well for whoever was trying to get him out. He heard a third voice shouting from above.

"Heavy! Stop breaking soldier's spine! We're here."

At least he would find out where they were taking him soon enough. He felt the crate being lifted as whatever vehicle they were in stopped moving. He wondered what had happened to Coulson, he hoped he had escaped whoever these people were….


	3. Chapter 2: Meet the team

Chapter 2: Meet the team

"Spy, are you sure he's still in there?"

"Yes, of course."

"If he isn't in there when I open this up, you are going to be in a lot of trouble."

"Miss Pauling, how could he have gotten out?"

"I just want to be absolutely sure."

"Just open it. He can't do much in his current state."

"Alright, here goes…."

Foxy breathed a sigh of relief, it was cramped in here. Although that was probably the least of his worries. The box was opened and turned upside down, sending Foxy tumbling to the floor.

"See, I told you he was in there. Now, if you will excuse me, I will likely die defending a hat factory tomorrow, as such I have some preparations to make."

Foxy got up off the floor and saw, standing in front of him, a young woman wearing a purple dress and glasses.

"Hello. I'm Miss Pauling. Sorry about the method of transportation, but it was necessary."

"When is kidnapping someone ever necessary?"

"It was necessary now, don't ask why. Follow me. I've been authorized to brief you."

"Brief me? I am NOT working with you."

"Alright, I should warn you, though. My boss has told me that you are to be terminated with extreme prejudice should you refuse."

Someone shouted from behind a door:

"Does that mean we have to be racist towards him?"

"No, soldier."

"Who was that?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Follow me if you want to live."

Foxy considered his options for a moment as the woman walked through a door. He wouldn't be in fighting condition for another two hours at least. He didn't think they would let him have that long. So he followed Pauling through the door into an office.

"Good, I hoped you would accept. Body disposal is a pain in the neck. Now, I assume you've heard of AIM?"

"Aye, I have."

"Good. AIM has recently been working with a man named Grey. This man has been attacking the company I work for with armies of robots. These robots somehow run on piles of money. I assume he hired AIM to fix that. The reason we brought you here is because you once worked with SHIELD. As such, you have a working knowledge of AIM's tactics and technology. In short, we brought you here to fight."

"Why should I care about what happens to your company?"

"Because, AIM is obviously getting something out of this. And besides, what else do you have to do? SHIELD is gone, and it's not coming back anytime soon."

"You forgot to mention that you'll kill me if I don't help you."

"That too. So, what do you say?"

"I think that I don't have a choice."

"I'll take that as a yes. Now, I need to brief you on your teammates. They're an odd group to say the least. All of them are mercenaries that my boss's company hired to protect it from the robots. First off is Scout. He's the youngest of the group, hails from Boston, runs pretty fast, and will talk you to death."

She showed him a picture of what looked like an 18 year old wearing a baseball cap, red t –shirt, and grey leggings.

"Be warned, if you get into a conversation with him, expect it to last for a long time. He's a good fighter, but his attitude could use some work."

She next showed him a picture of a man wearing a military helmet that covered his eyes, a red coat, and like scout, grey leggings. There were two grenades attached to a belt on his coat.

"This is soldier, he wanted to serve during WW2, but was rejected by the army. So he flew to Poland, taught himself to load and use a variety of weapons, and went on a Nazi killing spree. He can be annoyingly patriotic at times, but like scout, he's a good fighter."

"Question, how does he see through that helmet?"

"I have no idea."

She next showed Foxy a picture of a person wearing a flame retardant suit and a gas mask. The person was holding a flamethrower in the air triumphantly.

"This is Pyro. That about covers it, there isn't much more to say about him/her. Insane, probably delusional pyromaniac."

"Hang on, I'm supposed to work with this person?"

"Yep, get used to it. Alright, next is…."

At that moment, Pauling's phone rang.

"Hang on, I need to take this call."

She stepped into the next room over and answered the call.

"He's here, ma'am, I'm just briefing him now."

"We don't have any more time, Miss Pauling. Have someone else show him around. I need you here, now."

"Understood."

The woman on the other end hung up, and Pauling went back to the office room.

"I'm sorry, I need to go. I'll have spy show you around and finish your briefing."

Pauling then hurried out of the room.

Shortly after, Foxy heard a crackling sound from the other room. Spy emerged from the room shortly after.

"Well, I suppose it falls to me to finish your briefing."

"Were ye in that room the whole time?"

"I was. I heard your whole conversation with Miss Pauling. Everything she said is true. Scout is obnoxious, soldier is an idiot, and pyro is insane. Nevertheless, we have all managed to work well together. Follow me, you need to actually meet them yourself."

He followed spy outside of the office, waiting outside was a man wearing a hard hat and clothing typical of a construction worker.

"This is engineer, he specializes in all things mechanical. Should you need to be repaired, he is your man."

"It'd be my pleasure, partner."

Foxy stared at him for a moment, there was something odd about the way he said that…..

"Please, follow me, the rest of the team is waiting."

They entered what looked like a break room. Soldier was sitting at a table playing cards with someone foxy didn't recognize. A man in a white lab coat was talking with heavy, and someone else was sitting up in the rafters.

Spy cleared his throat.

"Gentlemen, met the newest member of our team. His SHIELD designation was simply "Fox" so that is what we shall call him. Try not to shoot him with bullets, rockets, or any other type of projectile before the battle tomorrow. Thank you."

With that, Spy exited the room. The man who was sitting with Soldier piped up.

"So ye'r the bucket o bolts who's joining us, eh?"

"Aye, though I didn't have much choice in the matter."

"Well siddown, then! I hope ye can play a good game o poker, lad! I'm Tavish Degroot, me friends just call me demo."

"I know the basics of poker, never played a game myself, though."

"We'll tis the best time to learn! We're all probably gonna die in a bloody fireball tomorrow! So make the best o the time ye have. While I'm dealing a new hand, ye can tell me how ye lost ye'r eye."

So Demo began to deal the cards, and an evening of stories and friendly brawls began.


	4. Chapter 3: MANN vs Machine

Chapter 3: MANN (and a machine) vs Machine

The next morning, everyone had a massive hangover. Besides Foxy and Spy. However, everyone still managed to stagger to the briefing room by 10:00. A large television had been mounted on the wall, foxy noted that it hadn't been there yesterday. At exactly 10:00 the image on the screen changed from pure blackness to the image of a woman. This woman looked to be in her late fifties or early sixties, she had black hair, although some of it was starting to grey. Like Pauling, she was wearing a purple dress.

"Gentlemen, I assume that there is at least one person in this room who is sober, and therefore capable of remembering what I am about to tell you. I will not attempt to be nice, you will all likely die tomorrow. Grey Mann has allied with a terrorist group known as AIM in order to create better, stronger, and smarter robots. Our intelligence suggest that they will move against us tomorrow. Our intelligence also suggest that they look something like this:"

The screen then turned to the image of a silverish, mostly humanoid robot. It had a head that resembled a medieval era knights helmet, but instead of human eyes looking through a visor, there was a single point of red light that moved from one end of the visor to another.

"These robots are not based on you. Therefore they will be quite competent. You all likely wonder why I have brought a Robot to help you fight. The answer is simple; this robot shall lead you."

Everyone in the room turned to look at Foxy.

"You all have likely turned to stare at the robot now. I am not joking. In order to defeat an army of intelligent robots, we need a robot. This one served with a defunct organization known as SHIELD. Therefore he has training in military tactics. I could have had a General kidnapped instead, but Generals need to sleep, Generals need to eat and drink, and Generals get distracted. Robots do not. Everyone except the robot must leave the room now."

Slowly but surely, the room cleared.

"Now, Miss Pauling, please bring the "gift" into the room."

Miss Pauling, who had been sitting in a chair behind the television, opened a drawer and removed half an ingot of a golden material.

"The substance that Miss Pauling now holds in her hands in called Australium. It is incredibly powerful, and it is yours if you lead the mercenaries well."

"Are ye trying to bribe me?"

"I am paying you. I realize that money has little to no value for you. Using this material, however, would grant you incredible power. I can get you to lead the mercenaries through threats, but you need motivation to lead them well. A whole bar of australium will be yours, if you can lead this band of idiots, and defend Mann Co from this new Robot army. Another two ingots will be yours if you manage to find Grey Mann. What do you say?"

Foxy exited the room 15 minutes after the other mercenaries had left. He then entered the break room, where they were talking and drinking.

"Alright ye bilge rats! Follow me, we've got some planning to do."

The mercenaries followed him to a room where a large map of the facility sat on a table.

"Alright. Our orders are to defend this area at all costs. From what I understand, they'll be trying to get a bomb into this here hatch."

He pointed to a spot on the map marked "bomb hatch".

"There are three entrances into this facility, all of them are trenches that approach the facility from different directions. Engineer, you'll set up a sentry, dispenser, and teleporter at the northern trench. Heavy and medic, you'll cover the western trench, only use ubercharges when you have to. Soldier, demo, and I will cover the Eastern trench. Scout will bring ammo and supplies from the main supply locker to anyone who needs them. Pyro can move around the battlefield freely, helping out as needed. Spy, we'll need you to infiltrate their base camp and relay any intelligence ye can get. Sniper will hang back in the base and shoot the bomb carrier whenever possible. Anyone have any objections?"

There was a silence for a few moments until Engineer piped up.

"This is best plan I've ever heard! Let's do it!"

Heavy was the next to speak.

"Is also only plan we've ever heard."

With that, they exited the room, and began preparation for the attack.

Meanwhile, inside the huge vehicle that was bringing the robotic army ever closer to the mercenaries, the two Architects of the attack were in conference.

"Doctor Baltar, are you absolutely sure that your…cylons, as you called them, will perform as well as you say they will?"

"Yes, Mister Mann, they will utterly annihilate the band of mercenaries that has been causing you so much trouble."

"They had better, otherwise I will ensure that MODOK knows exactly who to blame."

"From what you've told me, these mercenaries are utterly incompetent, disorganized, and untrained. The cylons should have no problem."

"You are making the same mistake I made, Doctor Baltar. You are underestimating these brutes. They have, by some miracle, obliterated more than 3 billion of my robots. I suggest that you do not underestimate them as well."

"Do you think that they have bene making use of Australium in order to fight you?"

"No, SHE would not let those bumbling oafs have a single flake of it. But, I assure you that after they are dead, we will have all the Australium we could ever use. I will have MANN Co, and AIM will have a new weapon with which to destroy the Avengers."

"One question, I noticed a major flaw in your original robots. Why on earth would you make them run on piles of money?"

"It was actually quite efficient. The same amount of money that would power that army for a year would only buy enough modern fuel to run it for 3 months. The major flaw was that the excess money survived when a robot was destroyed. Those mercenaries have likely become filthy rich by now."

"Well, we will take the money back tomorrow, when we destroy them all."

"I will toast to that, Doctor."

[my description of the robots is not very good. For a better image of what they look like, look up "cylon war era centurion"]


	5. Chapter 4: The calm

Chapter 4: The Calm

And that's how he got into this situation. He still couldn't believe he had let himself get captured like that. His train of thought was interrupted by Scout.

"Hey, roboss. Engie's got his stuff ready, sniper's in position, and medic's got a full charge."

"Good. I was informed a few minutes ago that the attack will be here soon."

"Good thing too, I'm tired of waiting. Say…..when Miss Pauling's boss asked us all to leave, what did she talk to you about?"

Foxy narrowed his eye and looked at Scout for a moment before saying:

"Go get heavy some more ammo, he's going to need it."

"You're da boss."

He ran off back to the base to get ammunition for heavy. Foxy sighed, eventually someone else was going to ask about what the Administrator had offered him, and He still wasn't sure how he was going to explain it. At that moment, spy uncloaked in front of him.

"I have found their base camp. A huge troop transport likely containing an army of robots is parked 1 mile to the south of us."

"Good job spy, but you know what I need ye to do next."

"I do, and I am very lucky that the robots do not have a disguise detector built in. I will be off now."

He recloaked and likely started to head back towards the enemies' camp. A few minutes later, engineer approached Foxy.

"Hey, uh…Sir? I've been doing some thinkin. And, I was wonderin' if you could let pyro hold my position for a while, it would gimee some time to work on a pet project of mine. It's a force shield adapted from a device called the wrangler, it would protect the base for quite a while if we need to."

"Alright, fine, go work on it, and radio pyro to hold your position."

"Thank you, sir."

He then headed back to the base.

Demo and soldier emerged a few minutes later.

"We're stocked to the bloody brim with ammo! And ready ta blow some robots ta kingdom come!"

"Good, because if what Spy says is true, the attack will be here very soon."

Soldier and Demo took their positions behind barricades they had put up at each trench. The robots would be forced to go through these trenches due to the fact that the base itself was underground. Soon after Soldier and Demo had taken their places, they saw a glint of metal from the ridge above the trench, the robots had arrived. Foxy got on the radio and called Pyro and medic.

"They're here, mates, you ready?"

"Mmmph mmmmmmmph!" 

"Ya, ve are ready."

"I'll be taking pyro's muffled grunting as a yes. Don't let them get into the base!"

At that moment, the robots began jumping into the trenches. As they did, Demo let out a loud cry of:

"Kaboooooooom!"

And detonated a carpet of sticky bombs, destroying the first group of robots. The next group was swiftly demolished by a volley of rockets and grenades. The third group was a little smarter. Five of the robots in the third group remained on the ridge and fired down at the defender's position, keeping them pinned under a constant stream of bullets. However, these five robots were quickly picked off by sniper, allowing Foxy, Demo, and soldier to finish off the third group. The remaining robots of the ridge retreated.

"Ach, they're runnin like the bloody cowards they are! We've done it!"

"Nay, they're just retreating briefly, they'll be back, mate. Let's go check on the others."

They left soldier to guard the eastern trench while they checked on the other two positions. Both were still okay. Night was falling, though it was hard to tell, it had been a particularly cloudy day. After they were all back inside the base, Heavy was the first to speak.

"Robots run away too fast. Very odd."

"Aye, I saw many more robots on that ridge. I think they were testing our strength, they'll be back tomorrow."

"How do you know this?"

"I met with spy after the attack, he told me."

"Ah, good to know he is doing well."

Meanwhile, at the robot's forward base camp…

"Doctor Baltar, can you please explain why your robots are retreating?"

"I assure you, Mister Mann, it is only temporary. I simply need to adjust the robot's fighting style based on the mercenaries' strategy."

"Please do it quickly, before she can get the Australium out of that facility."

"I will, don't worry. However, during the attack, I noticed that there was something else helping the mercenaries fight. I'll show you what it looks like."

"Hmm…..I've never seen that thing before. You say it is helping the mercenaries?"

"Yes, I believe we should attempt to apprehend it if possible."

"Very well, doctor, you have my permission to direct more forces then usual towards that thing. But do NOT fail, or the consequences will be severe."

"Understood. Don't worry, they cannot possibly win this fight."

Elsewhere, back at the MANN Co facility, Spy had returned once again…

"I have found the Architects of this assault."

"Ye mean you've found Grey Mann?"

"Yes, and an AIM scientist known as Doctor Baltar."

"Do you think ye can get to them?"

"No, they reside in an area that includes an automated spy-checker. It is a simple, yet devious machine. It is a hammer that hits whoever passes through the door on the head. It leaves no marks on the robots, but it would certainly cause me bodily harm, revealing me."

"Understood, do what you can, spy. And good work."

Spy recloaked and left the facility.

Foxy then pushed aside a section of the wall, and entered a hidden room. He then activated a telecommunications device located in the room. The face of the Administrator appeared on the screen.

"Well, what has he found out?"

"Spy has located Grey Mann, he is in the carrier that he used to transport his robots here."

"Hmm….you have done well so far, but you must find a way to get to Grey Mann, whatever the cost. Otherwise, you won't get this."

She held up three bars of Australium.

"Remember your mission, while your objective is to defend the facility, take any opportunity to attack that carrier."

With that, the image turned to black. Foxy groaned, why was he doing this for four bars of some element he had never heard of until yesterday? The he thought back to the power he had felt, he HAD to have those four bars. He exited the secret room, and went back to his map of the area, to plan for tomorrow…..


	6. Chapter 5: A whiff of the ol' brimstone

Chapter 5: A whiff of the ol' brimstone

The next day, everyone was back at their positions, waiting for the next attack. Foxy radioed Engineer, who was still working on the force shield.

"Any progress yet, mate?"

"Nope, I'm sorry bout it, but it's a bit more difficult to protect a whole facility with this thing then it is to protect one little sentry gun."

"Keep trying, we need that shield soon."

"Ach, they're here!"

Demo pointed to the ridge, where Foxy could make out the forms of hundreds of robots.

"They're here, open fire!"

The robots began to jump into the trench. And, like before, were demolished by a sticky bomb trap. More jumped down, and all three of the defenders opened fire. Foxy took out five with his shotgun before he was forced to reload. Soldier fired a volley of rockets into the advancing crown of robots, destroying 12 of them. Demo fired a spread of grenades into the group, finishing them all off.

Foxy took the opportunity to call medic on the radio.

"Medic, how's it going over there?"

"Fine, zere are no robots at all over here. Heavy is getting bored."

"No robots? But we just experienced an attack on this side….."

A hail of bullets came from the top of the ridge, nearly missing him. A huge mass of robots were descending into the trench, while a large group provided cover fire.

Foxy managed to get a few shots off at the approaching robots, but the number of bullets flying at him was absurd.

"Heavy, get yerself over here, we need reinforcements!"

"We are on the way now."

Foxy the noticed that Demo was away from his position. He looked back towards the enterance to the tunnel to see Demo retreating towards the base.

"Soldier! Fire another volley and then get out of here! Demo's already retreated, we better follow suit."

"Ay aye, sir!"

Soldier fired another clip of rockets, and then followed Foxy into the tunnel. Demo was taking cover behind the barricades they had set up inside the tunnels.

"Demo! Why did ye retreat before I gave the order?"

"Ye'll see, as soon as those fine dandies enter the tunnel."

The robots weren't far behind them. The bomb carrier, flanked by 30 other robots entered the tunnel soon after Foxy and soldier. If they had learned anything at all, the robots would have thoroughly checked the entrance before rushing blindly inside. However, they weren't quite self-aware. As such, they hadn't learned anything at all. About 14 sticky bombs exploded and destroyed them as soon as they entered the tunnel, what Demo hadn't counted on, however, was the bomb that the robots were carrying. It also exploded, caving in the tunnel.

Meanwhile, at the robot's base…

Grey Mann buried his head in his hands. How could the robots have been so stupid, it was obviously a trap, now they would have to come all the way back to get another bomb. Valuable time and effort had been wasted, and he had decided it was doctor Baltar's fault.

"Doctor Baltar! This is your fault! If you had built smarter robots, this would not have happened!"

"If they were any smarter, they would be self-aware, then we run the risk of rebellion!"

"Just give them another bomb and send them out again! And hurry! I just got word that Hale is on the way."

"He is just one man, how much of a difference can he really make?"

"You have never heard of Saxton Hale, have you? He is a killing machine! He could, singlehandedly, punch our robot army into oblivion! So hurry up, Baltar, or you will find yourself with a fist through your sternum!"

Back at the Mann Co. Base, The cave in had caught Foxy, Demo, and Soldier…..

"Heavy! Get zem out of there!"

"I am trying, doctor."

Heavy, with a groan of effort, lifted up the last of the rocks that had trapped their comrades.

"Doctor, are they still alive?"

"Yes, but zey von't be ready to fight for two days, zey have injuries that my medi-gun can't heal."

"What about our commander?"

"Ve better get him to engineer."

They hauled Foxy off to a repair bay, and put soldier and demo on cots.

"Welp, he's taken a beating, repairin 'im will take a while."

At that moment, Foxy regained consciousness and opened his eye.

"We don't have a while, leave me alone for a moment."

Everyone left, leaving Foxy alone. He opened up a compartment in his left arm, inside was a small tank filled to the 1/18 mark with a golden liquid. He pressed a button next to the tank, and immediately he felt himself being revitalized, all his damaged circuits being fused back together, and his damaged components being repaired. Within seconds, he was back on his feet. He looked at the tank again, it was nearly drained now. He had to get more, and soon. He left the room and addressed the mercenaries.

"Don't ask any questions, all that matters is that I can fight again. Now, we only have two routes to defend, but we're down to eight people. So, we need to rethink our positioning. Scout will carry on with his task, engineer will continue to work on the force shield, sniper will remain in his position, but pyro and I will be defending engineer's position. Medic and Heavy's jobs will remain the same. Understood?"

A chorus of "Yes sir!" echoed through the room. After Foxy left, the mercenaries began to talk amongst themselves.

"Something very strange happened in that room." Said heavy. "We need to find out how he got up so quickly."

"Agreed, zis is very strange."

The sound of someone clearing his throat came from the doorway.

"Ahem, Gentlemen. Do you mind telling what exactly is "very strange"?"

"Spy! I was hopin to see ya again, NOT!"

"Scout, this is no time for petty rivalry."

"Leader was caught in cave in, demo and soldier are resting now. But leader had retained serious injury. He told us to leave room and was out in seconds, fully repaired."

"Gentlemen, I believe that the cause is obvious, don't you? I believe that the laborer will know of what I speak."

"Pardner, you don't mean…."

"Yes, our commander is in possession of Australium. We must not let him know that we know, or he may kill us all. If I am correct, engineer's preliminary tests showed that Australium would be addictive to robots."

"Yep, they did."

"Well, then I shall also assume for a moment that Miss Pauling's superior offered him Australium when they were alone in that room. I shall also assume that He or she purposely addicted our commander to the substance, and is promising him more if he helps us defeat the robots."

"Well, what're we supposed to do about it, pardner?"

"Nothing, we must simply continue to fight, as we have always done. I shall take my leave now, Gentlemen. And remember, this conversation never happened."


	7. Chapter 6:CtrlAssualtdelete

Chapter 6: Ctrl+Assualt+Delete

The next morning, Foxy and pyro were at the point where engineer had built his sentry, overlooking the trench. Engineer's sentry gun was making short work of the robots, so there was no need for them to expend ammunition for the moment.

"Pyro, let me ask ye a question. This sentry gun is doing an excellent job fending off the robots on its own. Why don't we just build a bunch of these things and let them kill the robots for us?"

"Mmmmmmph mmph, mmmmmmph mmph mmph mmmmmmmmmph mmph mmph."

"Never mind, I'll ask engineer after the robots leave for the day."

Meanwhile, at the robot base camp…..

"That sentry gun is becoming a problem, send in a sentry buster!"

"Excuse me, Mister Mann, but what is a sentry buster?"

"A sentry buster, doctor Baltar, is effectively a bomb on legs."

"That would have been useful to know about!"

"I really don't see the need to tell you about every invention of mine. Deploying sentry buster now."

Back at the Mann Co facility, Foxy was speaking with pyro, or at least trying to. He was facing away from the direction the robots were coming from, so he was not aware of the approaching doom.

"Alright, I'm going to go see if Heavy needs any help, you stay here and…."

At that moment, Pyro pointed behind Foxy and let out a panicked:

"Mmmmmmmmmmmmpppppphhhh! mmmph mmmmmmmmmph!"

And dived into the trench. Foxy quickly looked behind him to see a huge naval bomb on two legs crouching by the sentry. Unfortunately, by the time he noticed that it was beeping rapidly, he was only able to get partially outside the explosion radius before he was knocked into the trench by the resulting blast.

Grey Mann and Doctor Baltar were watching this from the base camp, when Baltar had a wonderful, Grinchy idea.

"Mister Mann, it seems such a shame to limit these wonderful creations of yours to simply attacking sentry guns."

"Doctor Baltar, are you proposing what I think you're proposing? Because it sounds like the first good idea I've heard from you."

"I think I am proposing what you believe I am proposing. How many of these walking bombs do you have?"

"Many of them, enough to decimate the whole facility…How did I never think of this?"

Foxy was just getting up after being hurled into the trench, when he noticed that the robots were leaving. He thought that was odd, until he noticed about 50 or so sentry busters heading towards the facility.

"Engineer? We need that shield NOW!"

"Y' can't rush art, pardner, it ain't ready yet!"

As the sentry busters got closer to the tunnel entrance, Foxy jumped up and out of the trench. Then an odd thing happened, the sentry busters began to follow him. Grey Mann witnessed this and exclaimed:

"Damn! They must have mistaken him for a sentry gun!"

"How stupid did you make them?"

"I did not MAKE them stupid, Doctor Baltar, they just ARE stupid."

Foxy then saw an opportunity, he ran towards the robot base camp, with the sentry busters in tow, making sure not to outrun them.

"Sir, is the robot running TOWARDS us?"

"Oh dear, I think he is. Shut them down Baltar! Shut them down NOW!"

Foxy was just reaching the robots carrier, there had been no time for Grey Mann to send out a defense unit. But, just as the sentry busters were about to begin counting down, they stopped. Foxy punched one of them in anger, now he couldn't use them to blow open the carrier door. Dejectedly, he started to head back to the base.

"Well, that was close. And it would have been your fault Baltar! That was a horrible idea!"

"You said it was a good idea!"

"I lied, it was actually horrible."

"Look, it's all that blasted robot's fault! We need to get rid of him! Send your spybots to do it!"

"Are you kidding? That pyromaniac would have a field day with them!"

"Alright, I have an idea, may I have access to a cloaking watch?"

"Fine, just do whatever you're going to do quickly!"

Back at the Mann Co Facility, the rest of the robot army had left for the day.

"Why did none of ye tell me about the bloody walking bombs!? It would have been helpful to know about those things beforehand!"

"Sorry, pardner, but we….well, we kinda forgot about 'em."

"How do ye forget something like that?"

Before engineer could reply, Spy decloaked by the door.

"Gentlemen, I bring troubling news. Our enemies have developed an invisible bomb."

"Well, I'm kind of surprised it didn't happen sooner, do ye have any other information?"

"They will use this bomb tomorrow. Be prepared, it will be hard to tell who the bomb carrier is. However, the bomb will decloak briefly when its carrier is killed so that another robot may pick it up. Good luck, gentlemen."

With that he recloaked and left the facility.


	8. Chapter 7: The jarate kid

Chapter 7: The Jarate Kid

"Really, Mister Mann, you should have thought of this earlier."

"Hmm…..I suppose there is no disputing that this is a good idea. It better not go wrong though. We are running out of robots."

"With a fully cloaked army, they will never see it coming, trust me. Even they cannot possibly defeat what they cannot see."

"Alright, send them out, Doctor, and hope that they succeed."

Meanwhile, at the Mann Co. Facility…..

"Alright, take yer positions, but be ready for anything. Something tells me that they're getting desperate."

The mercenaries all left the base and headed to their defensive positions. An hour later, they noticed something odd, no robots at all. Not a single robot had entered the trenches yet. This was odd because the robots usually were in the middle of an attack around this time.

"Sniper, do ye see anything odd?"

Sniper's voice came back over the radio.

"Nah mate, but it's what I don't see that worries me. I suppose it's time to use an ancient art that I learned a while back."

Foxy looked up at the place where Sniper was perched, he was holding a jar filled with a yellow liquid. He then hurled it into the trench with a loud cry of:

"Jarate!"

The contents of the jar spilled onto something inside the trench, they then heard a crackling sound as 10 robots became visible inside the trench.

"Pyro! Spread fire randomly inside the trench! Fox to heavy, they're invisible, fire into the trench even if you can't see anything!"

Within a few minutes, Pyro had set fire to almost all the robots in the trench. What robots he missed, sniper revealed with Jarate, whatever that was. Foxy made a mental note to ask Sniper about that later. However, a few minutes later, they hard an alarm sound from the base and a recorded message from the Administrator.

"Warning! If they deploy the bomb all is lost!"

Everyone rushed inside the base and hurried to the bomb hatch. They all saw a robot, carrying the bomb, he was almost to the hatch. His cloak must have turned off, because he was quite visible now. Within a few seconds, he was also quite dead.

"Vell, zat vhas close."

"Good job, mates, let's stay in here a while in case more cloaked robots are lurking about."

Another ten minutes later, they heard a crackling sound as spy appeared by the bomb.

"We need out get this bomb out of here! It is rigged to explode even if it doesn't get to a bomb hatch! Hurry!"

They were about to assist spy in moving the bomb, when a group of robots breached the door and began firing at them. They made short work of the robots, but when they turned back around, spy was gone, and so was the bomb. They were just barely able to catch a glimpse of him running out the door, with a bomb in hand. A few seconds later, an explosion destroyed the door to the bomb hatch room.

Foxy stared at the room that had been destroyed in disbelief. Spy's charred body was laying In the middle of it.

"Medic, can't ye do something?"

"I'm sorry, his injuries are too severe. My diagnosis is a severe case of ze death. Very bad disease, no cure, very fatal."

"How can you make jokes at a time like this?"

They were interrupted by the sound of metallic feet marching towards them. A huge robotic exoskeleton was marching towards them.

"Hello, you foul brutes. I am Grey Mann, creator of the robot army, which you have so wantonly destroyed. You have forced me to get my hands dirty and destroy you myself. Unless, of course, you surrender first. Your robot, however, will get no such offer."

He activated an electromagnetic pulse, knocking Foxy out. The rest of the mercenaries quickly surrendered. Except for Engineer and Sniper, right after Grey Mann activated the EMP, Engineer activated his shield. Which he had finally finished. Forcing Grey to return to his base.

Foxy awoke in a rather large room, with a low ceiling. The only visible exit was a tungsten steel door, and it was locked. Medic, heavy, Pyro, and scout were in the room with him.

"Where are we?"

"We are in robot base, they took my Gun! I will kill them all!"

"What happened to the base, did they loot it already?"

Scout was the one to answer this question.

"Nah, engie turned on that shield that he had been workin on, just after you got shut down. Soldier, demo and Sniper are still in the base. Of course, Soldier and Demo are pretty badly hurt, so they won't be mounting a rescue op anytime soon."

"At least there be some sort o' bright side to this mess. Now we better get working on an escape plan….."

They were interrupted by the sound of the door opening, and the figure of Doctor Baltar entering the room…..


	9. Chapter 8: Playing with death

Chapter 8: Playing with death

Doctor Baltar entered the cell, dragging behind him a huge crate.

"Alright, we don't have much time, so I should get down to business."

"Cut to the chase Baltar, what do ye plan to do with us?"

"I plan to leave the cell door open, then I plan to give you your weapons back."

"What? Why?"

"Grey Mann has insulted my intelligence since the beginning of this whole mess. I wish to see him suffer."

"That seems odd, considering you'd get keelhauled by your superiors at AIM."

"I no longer work for AIM. Now, I best be going, before that robotic guard comes back. This crate contains all your weapons, good luck."

Heavy ran over to the crate and picked up his minigun.

"Oh, Sasha, I missed you so. Now, let us kill all the evil robot-baby men who took you away!"

"Alright, mates, the only mission here, is destruction. Tear this place apart!"

With that, they stormed from the cell, killing the returning guard. After that, they split up. Medic followed heavy, and scout and pyro stuck with foxy.

Foxy's group soon ended up in a huge room, with a ramp leading out of the carrier. A large group of robots were assembled in front of the ramp. They turned around and began firing. Foxy, scout and pyro took cover behind some crates and returned fire.

Meanwhile, Heavy and Medic were traveling, strangely unopposed, towards the command center.

"Doctor, why are there no robots to kill?"

"I don't know. Zis could be very good, or very bad. I think ve should keep going, though."

Meanwhile, Foxy's group was still under fire from the enemy robots. They had managed to whittle the group down considerably, but there were still quite a few robots remaining.

"Pyro! Hand me ye'r flamethrower!"

Pyro handed foxy his Flamethrower, since it wasn't much use at long range anyway. Foxy then removed the flamethrower's propane tank, and threw it into the group of robots, who went up in a large fireball a few seconds later.

"Mmmph mmph mmph!"

Pyro looked at his propane-less flamethrower in dismay.

"Sorry about that, I'll buy ye a new one. Now, let's get moving."

The group then left the room and headed down a hallway that they believed would lead them to the command center.

Grey Mann watched the security cameras in dismay. How had they escaped? Someone had erased all the footage from the cameras in the detention area, so he couldn't know for sure. However, he had a good idea of the culprit's identity. That confounded Frenchman was dead, so Baltar must have betrayed him. He knew he should have listened to the "Super Villain's handbook" when it said not to needlessly antagonize your underlings. Hopefully the robots he had sent to the Mann Co facility would come back soon, preferably with the australium. Providing that they could get through that confounded force shield. He quickly left the control center, and headed for his battle suit. It had beaten them before, and it could beat them again.

At the Mann Co facility, the robots were having a hard time breaching the shield. They fired salvo after salvo of rockets at it, but to no avail. Sniper laughed as he downed another robot with a well-placed headshot. He heard engineer come up the stairs, carrying a sentry gun.

"Those varmints haven't wised up yet, have they?"

"Nah, mate, they're still 'appily firing at the shield."

"Phew, good. Because if they ever got the idea to just walk into through the shield, that would work just fine. Good thing they weren't built smart."

He placed his sentry gun by a window, and it began firing at the robots.

"I gotta say, this is the easiest job I've ever had."

"Well, son, you just better hope that they don't figure out the shield's weakness, otherwise it could be the hardest job you've ever had."

Back at the robot's base, Foxy, pyro, and scout reached the control center. Heavy and medic entered moments after.

"Ve found no robots on ze way here, it vas very strange."

"Most of the robots are probably dedicated to breaking through the force shield. We need to shut them down before they do. Now, where are the robot controls…"

As Foxy said this, he heard a thump of metallic feet entering the room. The mercenaries all turned to see the same exosuit that Grey Mann had used to defeat them earlier.

"You have made a noble attempt, but I am afraid that I can simply deactivate your robotic commander, and then kill the rest of you. Nice try, you brutes."

Grey began to charge the electromagnetic pulse, but as he did, Baltar entered the room. He then ran up to the suit, and placed an electro sapper on it. The suit began to shut down.

"Baltar! What is the meaning of this!?"

Baltar suddenly shimmered, and where he had once been standing, Spy not stood, grinning smugly.

"I am afraid that the real Doctor Baltar is lying dead in a closet, with a knife in his back."

"Spy! How did ye survive the bomb?"

Spy reached into his pocket, and produced a gold pocket watch, engraved with a mockingbird.

"I find that this is very useful for faking death. Now, we must remove Grey Mann from his disabled suit, and take him back to the facility. I shall see to the deactivation of the robots."

True to his word, the robots were all deactivated by the time they had arrived back at the facility. They quickly locked Grey Mann in an unused room so they could all get some rest. Except for Foxy, of course. He spent the night recounting the day's events to the Administrator. At the end of his narrative, he received the three bars of australium promised to him, and left before anyone had woken up.


	10. Epilogue: Dark Horizon

Epilogue: Dark Horizon

The next day, Miss Pauling hurried to the Administrator's office. She had asked for her to come quickly, and had told her that they had important business to discuss.

"What do people say about absolute power, Miss Pauling?"

"That it corrupts absolutely, Ma'am."

"Correct, I have given absolute power to a machine. Do you believe that the saying about absolute power applies to robots as well?"

"Well, I would think so."

"I have created a monster, Miss Pauling, A powerful Monster. Contact the mercenaries, tell them that I have a new job for them. That robot must die."

"May I ask why?"

"The australium will act as an addictive substance, and it will drive him to acquire more of it. And who does he know who has a large supply of australium?"

"I'll contact the mercenaries right away."

With that, She hurried off to find a phone.

[If you liked this story, the sequel is titled: One False Step]


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